PixlBit

Games Beaten

-Shantae: Risky's Revenge - Director's Cut (PS4)

I had forgot this was originally a DSiWare game but the pixel art is very well done. So much animation! The story is silly but very tongue-in-cheek. Likable characters. The world feels more cohesive than the first game, less meandering. Dungeons have tighter designs too. It's quite short and nothing will blow you away but it is all solidly done and enjoyable. Looking forward (way forward, haha) to playing the next one.

-Pokémon Shield (Switch)

It's a Pokémon game! The battle system is really solid, there are plenty of monsters, it looks and sounds very nice, it has a likable cast...and yet I found myself kind of bored with it. It was a struggle at times to keep going and, as silly as this sounds when talking about a Pokémon game, I think it was the story. Nothing all that interesting happens till after the credits roll. There's not really a bad guy. A friendly rival, a misguided executive, someone out to prove himself...but no villain.

-BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle (Switch)

I feel like the fighting system in this game is capable of ballet but all I can manage is a decent polka, but I had fun with that polka! And though I showed up for Team RWBY, this game gave me a taste of BlazBlue, In-Birth, and Persona 4 Arena, and I found myself enjoying those characters too (this game is anime as all heck!). I'm not gonna go out and buy up a bunch of fighting games but I'm more likely now to play another. And if nothing else I'll be able to pop this one in anytime.

Games Bought

Whew! May turned into a big buying month! It started innocently enough when I pickd up a couple Switch games I'd been watching—Wargroove Deluxe Edition (it's fantasy Advanced Wars!) and Everspace (a well-regarded roguelike space combat game)—but things quickly spiraled out of hand. GameStop had this big sale, you see. (I know some people avoid GameStop on general principle but I haven't the scruples for that. I always try to get the best deal lol. All the same it's been a long time since I bought anything from GameStop.) If you bought used games under $20, you could get up to 50% on each game. We bought Pokken Tournament (Wii U) for the kids, which they tired of surprisingly quickly, to be honest, but it was FIVE DOLLARS. We doubled our Xbox One collection with Rare Replay, Halo Wars 2, Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions Evolved (this was a PS+ game once for the Vita and I got stuck on one of the bosses; gonna give it another go), Quantum Break, and the one XBO game I've really wanted to play: ReCore, an adventure made by some of the key people behind Metroid Prime. We also got a bunch of Switch games. Trine 4: The Nightmare Prince is a very well-respected co-op puzzle action platformer that my wife and I will play (eventually). As a big H. P. Lovecraft fan, I was excited to finally get Call of Cthulhu. Killer Queen Black is a very popular competitive co-op arcade-style game that I am excited to try. BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle is a fighting game I already talked about above. For the PS4 I got The Last Guardian, which I have meant to get since it came out and just haven't, so that was a satisfying hole to plug. So all those games just now were 50% off. It was a crazy good deal. We also bought Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom (Switch), which was too expensive for the deal, but at $35 it was still about $30 cheaper than anywhere online. It even came with its feelies! That was the end of the GameStop stuff but not the end of the acquisitions!  My wife was waxing nostalgic about Diddy Kong Racing at one point, so I bought her a complete copy of the DS version, aptly titled Diddy Kong Racing DS. Near the end of the month she found Call of Duty: Black Ops II (360) for a couple bucks at a thrift store. The physical edition of Planescape: Torment & Icewind Dale: Enhanced Editions (Switch) dropped below $30 and I decided to pull the trigger on that. Planescape is supposed to be one of the greatest narrative RPGs ever and I've wanted to play it for a long time (Icewind Dale is just along for the ride lol). Last and least is the PS+ offering for May, Cities: Skylines (PS4). I think my wife would have a really good time with this if she ever gets around to playing it.

Games Being Played

-River City Girls (Switch)

Playing with the wife. I'm surprised how much I'm enjoying the silly story and solid voice acting. It's pretty funny. Also fairly hard if you're not careful 

-Shantae and the Pirate's Curse (Switch)

This game is really good so far! I feel like the Shantae series has finally hit its stride.

-Kirby and the Rainbow Curse (Wii U)

Slowly playing through this charming game.

-God Eater 3 (PS4)

Passed a big story point and—GASP!—the big seemingly-benevolent corporation is actually nefarious!

-Destiny 2 (PS4)

Basically spinning our wheels waiting for the current season to end next week.